Classic Rock Music News

Guitar legend Carlos Santana is always a joy to speak to. And Carlos is in good form in a new, rather bizarre interview with the U.K’s The Guardian.

Carlos is asked how he stays so positive. He says: “You know, I've been programming – which is the right word – my brain to convince the molecules in my body that it's my choice to make every day the best day of my life.”

The Guardian asks: Does that work?

Carlos: “Yes! Your body is like a dog! Or a horse! Or a computer! If you stay on it, morning, afternoon and night, after a while it starts believing that you're capable of not being with misery.”

Carlos also doesn’t care about chart positions – “ the idea of numbers is very foreign to my brain” – but believes in melody. “I realized a long time ago that instrumental music speaks a lot more clearly than English, Spanish, Yiddish, Swahili, any other language. Pure melody goes outside time.

“Jeff Beck is a singer, but he sings with a guitar, so does Eric, so does Stevie Ray. It's not just through your mouth, it's through your fingers.”

He doesn’t care about “Greatest Guitarists” lists either. “I look them straight in the eye. No one's better than me. I'm not better than anyone. Whether it's Eric Clapton or B.B, King we look straight at each other. And that keeps it real.”

Santana also admits he is useless at computer game Guitar Hero. “I tried to play my daughter once. She beat me. She blew me off the stage,” he admits.

Santana is working on his memoir for publication in 2014. It could be an interesting read…